A Spanish Class for all ages–learn basic greetings and phrases with an emphasis on farm/community vocabulary. Notebook and pen included! Stretch and BREATHE! Padma will share simple breathing techniques to connect you to your DAN TIEN ( FOUNTAIN OF LIFE THAT LIVES IN YOU!). Also simple stretches to open your roots to the Earth and activate your Chi. Padma Hawkins has lived all over the world and taken care of children and community all her life. She believes in our land, permaculture, sharing of languages and ideas, in peace. Padma has studied with a TaiChi teacher for the past 7 years. She has also taught Spanish & English since she was 16 (on and off).

In this Sound Listening workshop, Thollem facilitates an enjoyable process of opening up and tuning into the nuances of the sounds around us, how we receive them and how we are participating with them. It is open to everyone regardless of musical experience, knowledge, or level of confidence. This is a rejuvenating experience that will inspire our imaginations and the possibility for aural curiosity every moment of our lives. The workshop incorporates objects and materials in the area, the acoustical properties of the space(s), our voices, body percussion and everything we discover throughout the process. Thollem has been teaching private music lessons since they were a teenager. Now Thollem primarily teaches workshops while on their perpetual tour!

Seeing Through Lenses is a workshop that uses tools many of us have: our ability to observe; our curiosity; our brain’s translation of visual moments around us; and a video camera in the form of a smartphone. Facilitated by video artist ACVilla (aka Angela), the time will be spent seeing our surroundings anew, video-recording moments, and sharing the resulting ‘film shorts’ with each other. We will be in the same area at the same time, yet by sharing, each participant will re-discover the space through the eyes of another. Seeing through our lenses those everyday places we no longer notice, but that make up a significant part of our lives, is a practice that this class aims to deepen.

ACVilla (b. 1968, Chicana) is a visual artist of moving stills. She focuses her camera on the subtleties of interpersonal dynamics and the power that context plays in constantly redefining what people believe they already know. Angela highlights those aspects of Life with an analog sensibility using digital equipment that fit into her nomadic lifestyle. She is known for her ongoing series of murals-with-a-message and contextualizations, a practice of projecting the outside world in. Coupled with her background as a teacher, Angela uses her simple tool as Dorothea Lange aptly described, “an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” The class is mobile, on foot: around the Frog Farm and other places. This class is based on moving through spaces, or staying in one place. It is based on curiosity. Students bring: Comfortable clothing and shoes. Please bring: a mobile phone that has a video setting (or a simple camera with a video setting is ok.)

Come play in the mud with us! This three-part series will provide an overview of natural building techniques with a focus on cob. Learn how to test soil, mix cob, build and repair walls and how to add sculptural elements. We will be mixing with our feet and applying with our hands- dress to get muddy! Attend the whole series or just singular classes for building or plastering only. Jenn Fogler first began studying natural building in 2008, with a desire to live a more sustainable and less toxic lifestyle.  She attended workshops learning to build with cob, straw bales, light clay straw, and adobe. Later that year she taught her first cob building workshop and lead volunteers to complete an outdoor kitchen and cob oven. In 2020 she moved to New Mexico, was reconnected with her passion for natural building, and began an internship as an adobe mason. She then was hired by the National park service and served as a mason and crew lead of the historical preservation team at Pecos National Historical Park for two years. During that time she attended school and received her certificate for adobe construction from Santa Fe Community College. She has recently returned to Southern Oregon and is excited to continue her path as a natural builder, working on various projects and sharing her passion and knowledge with others.

Introduction to Natural Building with Cob: Class 1 Tuesday August 6 from 8:30-4 and Wednesday August 7 from 8:30am-12:00pm. Come play in the mud with us! This workshop will provide an overview of natural building techniques with a focus on cob. Learn how to test soil, mix cob, build and repair walls and how to add sculptural elements. We will be mixing with our feet and applying with our hands- dress to get muddy!

Class 2: Monday August 12 from 8:30am-12:30pm-Introduction to Earthen Plaster. Earthen plasters offer an elegant, environmental, allergen-free,  low-cost,  DIY solution for exterior and interior wall finishes.  Due to its exceptional breathability, earthen plasters are especially suited to strawbale construction and other natural building forms. Gain hands-on experience mixing and applying a base coat of earthen plaster to straw bale and cob walls.

Class 3: Tuesday August 20 from 8:30am-4pm Introduction to Earthen Plasters Continued: Earthen plasters offer an elegant, environmental, allergen-free,  low-cost,  DIY solution for exterior and interior wall finishes.  Due to its exceptional breathability, earthen plasters are especially suited to strawbale construction and other natural building forms. Gain hands-on experience mixing and applying earthen plaster to straw bale and cob walls. We will also discuss in this workshop different layers of earthen plaster and how to apply earthen plaster to drywall, lathe and plywood.

During this 3 part weekly class on Wednesdays, you’ll learn plant ID, terminology, identification, herbarium, and you’ll have hands-on time using herbs for making herbal oils for salves & creams, drying for tea, and herbal poultices. CLICK HERE to view the class syllabus. Debbie Lukas works as a Clinical Herbalist and Herbal Pharmacist with 25 years of experience. She founded the family business Siskiyou Mountain Herbs, and propagates and grows many medicinal plants on the Frog Farm in Takilma, Oregon. Debbie teaches classes emphasizing respect for the land, ethical harvesting techniques and propagation of rare medicinal plants. She has been involved in various nonprofits over the years as staff, board member, and volunteer. She dreams of uniting diverse people in the Illinois Valley in the quest for sustainable living. She raises chickens, vegetables, herbs and hope! In 2006, she founded the Spiral Living Center with her husband Steve Orr to provide education and support to those living in the Illinois Valley. She currently serves as Executive Director.

This 90 minute class on August 13 from 10:30AM-Noon offers a visual exploration of the plants around us. Christine invites you to wonder and follow your curiosity as we look and learn together. We’ll use the text “Botany in a Day” for field and desk exploration of plant science in the Frog Farm garden. Christine holds a BA in Botany and Environmental Studies from Pitzer College, Claremont and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. She has taught botany in several places, including YoSan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in LA, and at the Siskiyou Herb Fest in 2012. She incorporated botanical studies in the watershed context for river/wetland re-naturalization teaching at PSU in Oregon and in UK Middlesex University Enfield.

On August 14th, you’ll learn how to dispatch, skin, dress and butcher a goat! Afterwards, on August 19 you’ll learn how to flesh the hide, mix a solution of alum, washing soda, and salt. As a group, we will soak the hide, then rinse and stretch. Bring a 5 gallon bucket and lid! Shawn is an active parent, grandparent, and homesteading jack of all trades. He has been butchering and tanning for over a decade.

Join Maki for this weekly crafting time from 1-4pm on Mondays August 5, 12, and 19. The fiber art series will include Sashiko creative mending,  patching clothes, and simple weaving with a variety of natural fibers. Week 1: Learn to weave patches on a small loom. Week 2: Learn Sashiko, traditional Japanese embroidery.  What is this decorative and practical art? Practice the stitch, learn to design, take home your project to work on. Week 3: Discuss & practice patching- fabrics and location of holes, hand or machine, use your woven patch! All series materials are included along with 9 hours of personalized instruction. Maki Hotta was born in Japan, moved to the East Coast as a young adult, and found her home in the Illinois Valley in 2014. She enjoys many fiber arts including sewing, felting, carding, and weaving. She is interested in connecting with people to form a “fiber shed”, including local processing for locally raised fibers. Maki has a background in gardening, farming, hairdressing, and community service. She provides care for elders, and is studying to become a death doula.

Join Rae Elise, (YT200) certified yoga teacher, for short 30 minute breathing sessions peppered throughout this 3-week series. Rae also teaches a separate weekly yoga class on Thursday evenings at the Frog Farm from 6-6:50PM. Yoga classes are always drop-in and donation based. Bring your own yoga mat or blanket, if possible.

On Mondays August 5 & 19 from 12:30-3PM, help assist Eliot with sorting and cataloging a large variety of books for our Spiral Living Center library! We need help organizing books in our online database so that they may be checked out by community members soon. More information about the library can be found here!

(Optional) Put in a few hours and help volunteer at our monthly pop-up food pantry at the IV Grange #370 on Wednesday August 21–From 1-3pm we’ll organize food at Frog Farm, 2-4pm on site set up @ Grange, & 4-6pm volunteer on site at the Grange & clean-up pantry. This is a great way to give back to our community and cultivate a culture of mutual-aid. Attendees are also welcome to volunteer to assist with our Earth Scouts Can Drive on Saturday August 24 from 10am-2pm. We ask teens to sign up for a 2 hour shift at the Earth Scouts Cans for Kids on August 24. Bring returnables and pay it forward for the next workshops!